Missing girl police stop drivers

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About 1,500 motorists were stopped and questioned by police searching for missing West Yorkshire schoolgirl Shannon Matthews.

Dozens of officers mounted a series of roadblocks in Dewsbury Moor on Tuesday night, as hundreds of residents marched to show support for the girl's parents.

The nine-year-old was last seen on her way home from school last Tuesday.

West Yorkshire Police said the incident room had received more than 500 calls from members of the public.

Detectives have conceded Shannon "may have fallen into the wrong hands".

'Greatly concerned'

Drivers and their passengers were quizzed about potential sightings of Shannon since she disappeared.

A police spokesman said: "Yesterday, officers spoke to around 1,500 motorists in an information seek in the Dewsbury Moor area and used large electronic boards to appeal for information from the public.

"In excess of 2,000 houses are being visited and the investigation continues to follow a number of major strands of work which include Shannon's close family, friends and school."

Shannon has been missing for more than a week

On Tuesday, Det Insp Andy Brennan, who is leading the investigation, told reporters: "What concerns me greatly at this point is that Shannon is a vulnerable nine-year-old who may have fallen into the wrong hands."

Mr Brennan said he believed the key to Shannon's disappearance lay in the local area and police spoke to drivers at five locations near to the place where she was last seen.

Mr Brennan appealed to anyone who was in the Dewsbury Moor area on 19 February to think back to anything unusual they saw that day, or had seen since.

Specialist search dogs that have been trained to sniff out human remains have been used in the investigation, Mr Brennan added.

And he said a team of "dedicated scientists" were on hand for detailed forensic examinations.